N scale in Seoul, South Korea

[Jamy]

Hello all!

I'm going to Seoul soon and I'd like to know if there is some shops for N scale train, especially Japanese of course and eventually a little KTX ( French Tgv's Brother).

Thank you so much for your help!!

[bikkuri bahn]

I'm curious too.  I know Korea has a number of renowned makers of brass locomotives (Samhongsa, etc.), but I don't know about the model RR hobby there, or even if there are railfans.  By the way Jamy, take some pictures of trains there, if you happen to see any.

[to2leo]

I also am interested in finding out too since I am planning to go to Korea in May of 2011.

[Railtunes]

Hello, Everyone!

 

I just joined the Forum: I model Asian N scale and am the coordinator for AsiaNRail, a model railway group here in California building Asian-themed N scale modules.

Besides Japanese, I also model Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian, Chinese and Korean trains - and there will be even more eclectic examples in future. My main concentration is Taiwan, back in the day of colonial Japanese steam transitioning to American-made Diesels and electrics - and some contemporary imports from Korea and South Africa.

I'm also modeling scenic highlights from Taiwan, Korea, Japan and the Philippines. You can find my article on building rice terraces at the Washington, D.C. Japanese Rail Modelers website.

 

In regard to Korean N scale, (and HO, for that matter) there is precious little - zilch, actually - available in the way of trains. You won't find much, if anything, in Korean hobby shops. I've been there twice and checked it out personally as late as last summer. None of the Korean brass makers makes anything of their own railways. Modelers there are more into military dioramas and RC models.

 

However, there is a website called GermanGray's Scale Models that shows some HO and N scale trains (and even one G scale engine). The site is mainly an architectural models company but, among their offerings are some Diesel locomotives (American prototypes, but correct for the era they represent) in the 1980s-90s orange and black livery, some Saemaul Diesel multiple unit passenger sets in the teal and silver scheme and a container freight train in the modern Red-White-Blue livery (albeit a repainted American loco pulling what look to be Tomix Japanese container cars). The site is all in Korean, so, if you can't manage the language, you can find the railway models by going to the menu list at the left side of the home page and clicking on the second item from the top. A bunch of thumbnail photos will appear. Then you can open each photo by clicking on it.

If you then scan to the bottom of each photo, you'll find the scale of the model - 1/87 = HO and 1/160 is N scale. Since the Korean National Railroad (Korail) is all standard gauge, they model in 1:160 scale rather than the typical Japanese and Taiwan N scale at 1:150.

 

This site seems to have a connection with another of a company that makes scenic materials and trees - quite nice ones, I might add - including not only fairly typical deciduous and conifer types, but also a variety of palm trees and banana trees!. This is called Diorama Shop and is worth checking out. I've been in touch with them and they also offered to be a go-between with German Gray's site. Further investigation seems to indicate that the owner of Diorama Shop works with German Gray to produce dioramas and architectural displays as his name shows up in both places if you dig deeply enough.

 

There is also a company called Young Modeler who make laser cut wood kits of stations and other structures in HO and N scale. The N scale offerings total 3 kits at present: a hexagonal pavilion from the palace in Seoul, an ancient guest house from the south of the country and the main Buddha hall from Buseoksa temple in central Korea. I've got them all and the are very well designed kits that go together smoothly by following the complete photographic directions.

 

Anyone who would like to follow up on this topic more is encouraged to stay in touch with me. I rather enjoy trying to track down the more esoteric prototypes and am more than happy to share what I find with others who are interested.

 

- Paul Ingraham, aka Railtunes, 'cause my other love is singing!

[bikkuri bahn]

Thanks for the info, Paul.  Looks like scratchbuilding/conversion is the only option if you want to model Korean prototype.  Would be a very interesting, if challenging project.

[Bernard]

Paul - Welcome to the forum...I was working in Seoul last summer and on a 1/2 day off I went to find a Hobby shop in S. Korea and had no luck....that's for the new information!

[cteno4]

Paul,

 

Welcome and great to see you here on JNS! Your input will be wonderful here!

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

ps check out some of paul's modeling in his article on making rice paddies!

 

http://japanrailmodelers.org/pages/modelingjapan/ricefields.html

[Mudkip Orange]

Dude you HAVE to post pics. Srsly.

[Friedbert]

I'm visiting Seoul in October 2013.

 

I found a shop with N-scale railroads in the Kukja Electronic Center, 9th floor. Please take subway line No 3 to "Nambu Bus Terminal", and than exit No 4.

 

This shop has a limited selection of Tomix and Kato.

[3railgreg]

Dude you HAVE to post pics. Srsly.

Yes Paul, I agree with Mudkip pics and vids if you can!!

[Railtunes]

As a follow up to this topic, I now have a couple of YouTube videos up of my AsiaNRail N scale modules. These were taken at the 2015 Hiller Aviation Museum Trains and Planes show by Julia Jackson, a fellow member of our local Peninsula NTRAK club.

In the first video I describe the various scenes on the modules, including the Korean Buseoksa temple model mentioned above and a Korean traditional farmhouse model I found on a later trip.

The second  video is virtually the same, but the narration focuses on the modular concept I am using.

Look for "Paul Ingraham's Asian Railway Layout" and "Paul Ingraham's Asian Railway 2" on YouTube. 

Comments, questions welcome.

 

- Paul Ingraham, AsiaNRail

Edited April 4, 2016 by Railtunes

[cteno4]

For your viewing pleasure! Great work Paul!

 

 

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[NateJ93]

I've seen various custom models scattered about cyberspace, but nothing in the way of commercially made kits or RTR models.

I know Korail used to use SW series switchers, so perhaps an existing model could be repainted and modified into a Korail model relatively easily.

Given the availability of Chinese and Russian models, the railroads of "The Other Korea" would ironically be easier to model (In one sense) since they just use ex-Soviet and Chinese stock (Some of which is left in its original paint and just given new numbers).

[railsquid]

Interestingly there appears to be some N scale production in South Korea for export at least - I have a Hobbytrain DB 110 class which was made there.

[chadbag]

3 hours ago, railsquid said:

Interestingly there appears to be some N scale production in South Korea for export at least - I have a Hobbytrain DB 110 class which was made there.

 

Yeah, I think a lot of the HobbyTrain stuff is from Korea -- my BR100 and several other different more modern models from HobbyTrain all look to be made by the same company -- supposedly a company called Ajin Precision, which is an outgrowth, or continuation, or in some way related to an older (now defunct it seems) Brass model maker called Ajin Model Trains or some such...  The website given for Ajin Precision however is now one of those generic landing sites.

 

It may be a lot like China.  While China is starting to get a domestic market for Chinese model trains, the CHinese model train market has been much smaller than the manufacturing output of model trains in China -- which were mostly done for American and European and maybe Japanese companies.